Barcelona put pressure on Ousmane Dembele to renew

Ousmane Dembélé is entering the final stages of his recovery with Barcelona president Joan Laporta surprisingly coming out and saying the Frenchman should be available after the international break.

The Frenchman’s scheduled return date after he was evaluated was set for November so time will tell if he is going to be back sooner than expected or Laporta was given bad information.

Regardless, while his return to the pitch is growing closer, his future with the club remains uncertain.

Barcelona want to avoid another Ilaix Moriba situation

The player’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season and the last thing they want is to have another scenario similar to the one they experience with former midfielder Ilaix Moriba.

According to Sport, Barcelona has exerted some pressure to Dembélé’s representatives to try to get them to agree on a new deal. If not, they are prepared to do to Dembélé’ what they did to Moriba.

Should he not sign an extension, the club is prepared to make him sit on the stands until the end of the season. Within Barcelona, they believe his plan was to ride out the last year on his contract and then leave on a free.

His time at Barcelona has been riddled with injuries and he has not lived up to the transfer fee the Catalans paid to Borussia Dortmund. However, he is different than any other player have at the moment.

Dembélé’s pace and danger on the wing separate him from the rest. The problem has been staying healthy and exploiting those abilities on the pitch. Last season was arguably his best season since he arrived but still missed time with injuries.

Spending more time on the sidelines and the inconsistency when healthy are two things working against him. But Laporta seems to have an affinity for Dembélé and would like him to stay.

Dembélé’s situation is going to be interesting because he is one of the player’s Ronald Koeman is going to be counting on to help save his job. The Dutchman, to the dismay of many, is going to get more time to show what he can do once certain players come back from injury.

Dembélé is one of those players. He may not be able to count on him, however, if his contract situation is not resolved.